


Anyone Can Play (Bass) Guitar

by inverse_asterism



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Everyone is cute, M/M, awkward soft boys, band au...?, coffee shop AU, is that a thing?, rae tries to be wingwoman, toast is just there to be amused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29143692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inverse_asterism/pseuds/inverse_asterism
Summary: “H-Hi, what can I get you? There, I said it first. He’s mine. I mean, my customer. I mean, I’ve got this, Rae.”Corpse works in a coffee shop and has a soft spot for the adorably shy regular customer who always comes in. Then the dark, silent bassist for his favorite band comes in one day and...
Relationships: Corpse Husband/Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 58
Kudos: 987





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> taken from a prompt by Vampkat that was living in my brain
> 
> I don't know that coffee shop au will become my niche but it is fun to write?

Midway through a boring, tired, and dreary morning shift, the door opened and Corpse immediately felt 156% better about his day. He cut Rae off on her approach to the register and breathlessly greeted, “H-Hi, what can I get you? There, I said it first. He’s mine. I mean, my customer. I mean, I’ve got this, Rae.”

Rae’s eyes were full of laughter. She knew what this was about. “Pff, he’s all yours.”

The customer, who was a regular, looked up from his phone with an adorable bewildered look on his face. “Uh… wh-what?”

Corpse tried to calm down and reign in on how intimidating he knew he looked. But he was also antsy. This customer didn’t usually come in on Tuesdays, so this felt special. Other than the odd timing, he looked as soft and adorable as always, dressed in a pale blue hoodie with fluffy white lining on the hood that looked super soft and warm. His hair was sideswept and also fluffy. He looked sleepy like he’d just woken up, and while Corpse knew the pink tinge to his cheeks was probably from the cold outside, a little part of him hoped he also had a part in it. He already knew what his order was going to be but he liked hearing his voice so he waited for him to go through the whole spiel.

“U-Um…” the customer shyly looked to the side and leaned forward rather than raise his voice, “Can I uh… get a tall, hot, almond milk latte with a shot of vanilla and cinnamon plus an extra shot of espresso… um, p-please?”

“For here or to go?”

Please say for here please say for here please say for here please say for here…

“Oh, um… to, to go…”

_Fuck._

“What name should I put on the cup?” He knew this as well but still liked hearing it.

“S-Sykkuno…”

Rae began putting the drink together, shaking her head at Corpse the whole while. While she waited for the espresso to pour, she pulled out her phone, brought up Corpse’s number from her contact list, and pointedly looked from the display to Sykkuno’s waiting cup.

 _Don’t you fucking dare_ , Corpse glared at her.

She responded with an eyeroll and went back to making the drink.

Sykkuno accepted his drink and shuffled back out into the cold and out of Corpse’s life (until the next time he came in for coffee).

Toast joined Rae in shaking his head at him. “Why don’t you just ask him out already?”

“Seriously. Isn’t that band you like playing this weekend? Ask if he wants to go with you.” Rae suggested.

“Wh- No! Look at him. He’s so soft and adorable.. Does that look like a man who would be into that kind of music? He probably listens to lo-fi and like, vaporwave or something... Ghibli movie soundtracks…!”

“Which you also listen to sometimes.”

“That’s beside the point.”

Rae looked at him knowingly. “I think you just don’t want him there when you’ll be drooling over the _other_ love of your life.”

Corpse leaned against the counter and protested evenly, laying out the facts, “Uh-uh, Rae, you see, I want to do unspeakable things to Sykkuno. I want Sy to do unspeakable things to me. There’s a difference.”

Both Rae and Toast broke out in raucous laughter. “If you say so, Corpse.”

Sykkuno took his coffee back to the studio and snuck it in with him. The studio runners preferred only capped drinks in the practice rooms but he needed his caffeine fix. Once the double doors were closed behind him, he carefully set his coffee down on a stool and picked up his bass to go back to practicing. It was their first show in a while this weekend, and he wanted to do good at it. After an all-night band session, he’d skipped class to put in some solo practice.

He turned the amp on and crouched down to hit the power on his effector board, tapping through the different settings with the toe of his sneaker experimentally, ending on the tuner. Once the strings were all tuned he tap-tap-tapped to a random setting and set about warming up. He messed around with a few classics, some Radiohead, some Chili Peppers, then ran through his own band’s planned songs for the weekend.

He caught sight of himself in the mirror and a lopsided grin touched his face. It always looked funny to him when he practiced in his casual clothes. Which reminded him, he needed to replace the earring he’d lost last show…

He still didn’t know how he’d gotten talked into joining his friends’ band when their former bassist left. He liked playing but… getting up in front of all those people… he couldn’t do it. He only agreed when they assured him that the makeup and the clothing, which was a far, far cry from his usual look, would mean no one ever, ever recognized him...

“Hey Corpse, it might be your last chance to ask soft vanilla and cinnamon boy to go to that concert with you today,” Toast teased.

“Yeah, Corpse. You finally gonna ask him out?” Rae put her chin on her hands and gave him the most expectant look she could muster. “I bet he blushes. I bet you both blush and it’s sickeningly sweet.”

“No. Stop it. Don’t make things weird, guys.”

Sure enough, Sykkuno came in not long after this. He’d been coming in every day that week, looking just as sleepy each time. Corpse had no idea what he did from day to day. Today his usual soft pastel-coloured hoodie was paired with a longish green-striped scarf that suited him very well. It looked like it would make good use for other things, like tying him down to the bed, or to use as a blindfold while Corpse--

“Uh,” he cleared his throat and forced himself to go through the usual routine under Toast and Rae’s watchful gaze. “Hi, what can I get you?”

“U-Um…” Sykkuno leaned forward to quietly give his usual order, “Can, Can I please get a… a tall, hot, almond milk latte with a shot of vanilla and cinnamon plus an extra shot of espresso?”

“For here or to go?”

Please say for here please say for here please say for here please say for here…

“Um… t-to, to go…”

_Fuck._

“What name should I put on the cup?”

“S-Sykkuno…”

Was it weird he still asked after Sykkuno had been here every day that week? Oh well.

Rae started making his coffee and giving Corpse pointed looks all the while. She went to hand Sykkuno his drink, then abruptly pulled it back and made a big show of saying, “Oh, oops! Silly me, I made this with the wrong kind of milk.”

“O-Oh, well, um… th-that’s okay…” Sykkuno started to say, his hand still hanging awkwardly in the air to accept his order.

“No way, you wanted almond milk, right? Hold on, I’ll just make another one.”

“It’s n-no problem, um, I just… I just like almond milk I don… I don’t have an allergy or, or any...th-thing. Um…”

“Trust me, it’ll take no time at all. I’m _really_ sorry.” Rae set the offending totally-not-on-purpose mistaken order on the back counter and gave Corpse another look. He mouthed the word ‘no’ at her and earned another eyeroll. “Hey, uh,” big show of checking the name on the cup, as if she didn’t _know_ , “Sykkuno. You come in here a lot.”

He looked surprised and shrank down into his scarf a little as he mumbled, “I guess…? I, I like your coffee…”

“Aw, thanks. Hey, do you like music?”

“Do, Do I like music?” He repeated the question, his cheeks turning pink. “U-Um, yeah, yeah, I uh, I like music… I guess...”

“You like going to concerts?”

“U-Uhm… I don’t… I don’t…” how could he answer this honestly without giving himself away, “I don’t um, go to um, I don’t… not very often, no, I-I don’t get to… go… to concerts, not very often, no… um…”

Rae looked crestfallen. “Oh. Never mind then.”

“U-Um…?”

She shrugged and nodded her head in Corpse’s direction. “Friend of mind was just looking for someone to go with. Here’s your drink.”

“Thanks…” Sykkuno took his drink and scurried from the coffee shop as quickly as he could.

As the door shut behind him, Corpse shot a look of extreme displeasure at Rae. “I’m gonna kill you if you ever try that shit again, I swear.”

“Okay,” she picked up the ‘mistaken’ latte and took a sip, completely unbothered. “Your turn next, Toast.”

“Leave it to me!” Toast proclaimed with relish.

“I’ll kill you both.”

Saturday came around and Sykkuno just barely managed to procure new fake piercings in time for the show. He and his bandmates convened at the venue and crammed all their gear into the narrow green room. Even he still had a hard time believing the transformation he underwent each show: a faded vintage t-shirt that was just the right size to hug his torso over a mesh shirt with 3/4 sleeves, distressed skinny denim, heavy boots, and a chain hanging from his hip. He styled his hair so it still swept to the side, but hugged his head closer on the sides and had a bit more definition than his usual slept-in fluff. Add to this multiple fake ear piercings, a wrist cuff, and coal black eyeliner and his transformation from shy college student Sykkuno into cool man of few words rock bassist ‘Sy’ was complete.

A totally different person was looking back from the mirror at the end of it.

Once everyone was ready, the band went on stage and began setting up. It was a smaller venue, maybe with a capacity of 800 people give or take. The stage was low to the ground and close to the security bars set between the audience area and the performance area. It made Sykkuno feel a little nervous. He pressed his lips together and did his best to get into the right headspace to perform despite it.

Sykkuno set up his effector board, plugged in to the amp, did all the prep stuff and began tuning his instrument. He exchanged nods with his bandmates to signal he was ready and the vocalist signaled to the tech crew they were ready to rehearse. He could do this. He liked playing. If there wasn’t an audience he could play for hours on end until his fingers went numb.

Sykkuno closed his eyes and threw himself into it, who cared if it was just rehearsal. He slapped the strings and banged his head, spinning on his heel to throw some pressure on the drummer and--

_twang_

The D string snapped and swung wildly around in the air.

Sykkuno stopped playing with a laugh. At least it happened during rehearsal. He left the other three to keep playing and ducked back stage to grab a spare string from his bag…

Only to find he left his pack of spares at home.

Uh-oh.

Sykkuno poked his head back on stage and waited for a lull to let everyone know he was running out to buy a new string. The studio he practiced at was near-by and they sold strings at the front desk.

“Oh cool, can you grab us coffees while you’re out?”

“Huh?”

“I’m tired. I worked a night shift last night. Please?”

“O-Okay…”

Sykkuno noted all their coffee orders and ran back for his wallet. He wouldn’t be long, so he didn’t bother with a jacket but did grab his scarf. Studio to buy a new D string, coffee for everyone, then back to finish rehearsal before the show. He could do this. He had plenty of time.

He didn’t have much time left.

Corpse paced to the front entrance of the coffee shop and looked out at the people passing by. “Where is she? I have to leave soon.” Why the hell did he agree to work a shift today?

Toast looked at his watch. “She’ll be here. Traffic’s probably shitty because the roads are icy.”

Corpse huffed and wandered back to the counter. “I guess.”

“Trust me, I used to live in Canada. I know all about icy roads.”

The door opened behind him and Corpse turned around, hoping for Rae but expecting a custom...er…

Holy shit.

Holy. Shit.

Holy _fucking_ shit.

Sy, the bassist with his favorite band, the man who made him weak in the knees, the person whose deft fingers looked and sounded like magic, was walking in. He was walking into _his_ coffee shop. Holy shit. He looked absolutely amazing, and luckily his eyes were glued to his phone so he didn’t notice Corpse staring.

Corpse hurried behind the register and struggled to stay cool.

“Hi, what can I get you?”

Sykkuno flicked a gaze up at him and then directed his eyes back to his phone in internal panic. Oh jesus, he came to his usual coffee shop without thinking and the nice handsome barista who always served him was there. He fought to keep his game face on. He was Sy, the bassist, not Sykkuno the awkward student. He could do this. There’s no way they’d realize. “Can I get uh… two tall cappuccinos, a venti flat white and…” oh, actually he could use a coffee himself. Without thinking, his mouth ran of its own volition and rattled off, “and a tall, hot, almond milk latte with a shot of vanilla and cinnamon plus an extra shot of espresso.”

Corpse punched in the order as he asked, “is that for here or to go?”

Two tall cappuccinos…

A venti flat white… and…

A tall, hot, almond milk latte with a…

shot of vanilla…

and cinnamon…

plus…

an extra… wait.

No…

Wait.

No…

No way…

Corpse looked up and saw that the same realization from a different perspective was dawning on Sy’s face.

Sy.

Sykkuno.

No way.

No… No way…

“Sy…” Corpse said slowly, “kkuno…?”

Sykkuno bit his lip and shrank down into his scarf.

His… very soft-looking, green-striped scarf...

Holy shit.

“T-To go, please.”

Toast started making the drinks and Sy… _Sykkuno_ fumbled with his wallet to pay. Corpse stood dumbfounded, trying to think of something to say. Judging by the way the other man was biting his lip and staring deliberately at the floor, he didn’t appreciate being recognized. Corpse mentally smacked himself. What could he do to say ‘your secret’s safe with me’ as smoothly as possible? Think, Corpse, think…

“Here’s your change.” Sykkuno ventured a glance up to take the change and Corpse caught his eye. “I’m sure you’ll play great in the show tonight.”

Sykkuno couldn’t help it, a smile started to form. He hid it behind the package of bass strings and did his best to act the part of a cool band person. “You know it.”

Completely and utterly dying on the inside, Sykkuno took his change, accepted his drinks from the other barista, and had to struggle to walk out of the coffee shop in a way that appeared calm. On his way out, he passed the other barista he often saw on her way in and then thankfully was able to disappear into the night.

But wait, that was the barista who said something about a friend going to a concert…

_I’m sure you’ll play great in the show tonight._

Oh jesus.

Sykkuno doubled speed back to the venue.

Back at the coffee shop, Rae approached the counter and apologized in a rush, “Sorry, sorry, roads were icy.”

“I don’t think he minds,” Toast said, his mouth curled into an evil grin.

Corpse had both hands on his face. “I… I don’t know how I feel about this…”

“What happened?” Rae looked between them, bewildered.

Toast smacked Corpse between the shoulder blades. “I can explain. Corpse needs to go to his date. Turns out cinnamon and vanilla boy will be at the concert after all.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By popular (?) demand, the concert scene. I love you all.

“Coffeecoffeecoffee…!”

“Aww yeah, that’s the stuff. Thanks, Sy.”

"I neeeeeded this so bad… you have no idea."

Sykkuno left his bandmates to descend upon the coffee like starved puppies and ripped open the package of bass strings with his teeth. He extracted the paper-wrapped coil of D string and stuffed the remaining strings in the front pocket of his case. No need to replace all four right now.

Working fast, he unwound the broken string from the tuning head and set it aside. Getting the other end out from the body took some work as his hands were shaking and it kept veering off at odd angles to bump around the interior. Relax, Sykkuno. Calm down. It’s just pre-show jitters.

Except it wasn’t only that this time.

There, the rounded end of the string finally emerged and he pulled it through quickly to set it aside with the other broken piece.

The barista had recognized him. He never wanted to be recognized; he was too shy and anxious to bear the scrutiny. He didn’t want people to be let down when they saw how he really was off-stage. But then he had to go and order his usual sweetened latte like an _idiot_. Why did he _do_ that?!

Sykkuno pulled the new D string from the paper packaging and unfurled it. Double checking that he had the right position, he threaded it through the body from the back, up over the pickup and the neck where he held it against its proper position with his thumb. With practiced ease, he used his other hand to feed the end through the hole in the tuning head and pull it through, around, and looped under itself to pull back and hold it in place. He then turned the head once, twice, thrice to keep it all together loosely, and fished a clip-on tuner out of his case. Powering it on, he shifted from kneeling on the floor to sitting on the beer-stained, cigarette-smelling two-seater sofa shoved in the corner of the green room and began tuning.

_byon~_

As he turned the tuning head and pulled the string taut, his mind was still full of thoughts of the handsome barista who had recognized him. Was he coming to the show tonight? He’d complimented his playing, so had he been to shows before? Did that mean Sykkuno had kept his cover until today? Could he show his face at the coffee shop again without dying of embarrassment? 

_bwang~_

If he was a fan of the band, had seeing Sykkuno in his off time ruined it for him? He sure hoped not.

_twang~_

If he _was_ disappointed, well, he definitely wasn’t coming tonight.

That kinda… sucked...

Sykkuno tried to focus and put those worries aside. Forget about the barista. Forget about coffee. Nothing mattered except getting through the show. Everything else was… was out of sight out of mind. Yeah. He could do this. Worry about it later.

“You forgot about your coffee, dude.”

There went that idea. Sykkuno flicked his eyes to the writing on the side of the cup outlining his stupid order on his stupid coffee and sighed. “Thanks.”

Vanilla and cinnamon went so well with coffee, but you needed that extra shot of espresso to balance out the sweetness.

String tuned, Sykkuno borrowed wireclippers from the venue staff to snip off the excess, played a few bars to let the string settle in, re-tuned, repeated the process and then hopped on stage to do a quick sound check to settle his nerves. By the time he finished it was time to open the doors and his coffee was tepid at best.

Rae’s delighted laughter of disbelief and repeated ‘omigod! oh my _god!!_ ’s were still ringing in his ears when Corpse arrived at the venue. They had just started allowing the audience in, and he couldn’t tell if he was bouncing on his heels from the cold or from impatience as he waited in line.

“This is amazing!” she’d practically bounced with glee, stars in her eyes. “This is… this is _fate_.”

Corpse’s only response had been to fist his hands in his hair and groan. “Oh my fucking god…”

“Wait, wait, I need to see this…” she pulled out her phone and opened google. “What’s the name of the band again?” He told her and she pulled up a promotional photo on image search. “The bassist, right…?” She tapped and zoomed in on Sy’s face, squinted at it, tilted her head, pulled back and exclaimed again, “Oh my _god_!”

“Right?”

“That eyeliner is what sells it. Daaaamn.”

“ _Right?!_ ”

“You _gotta_ ask him out now.”

“Ri- Wh- No!”

“Why the hell not?!” Rae waved the phone at him.

“Do it Corpse. I triple dog dare ya!” Toast joined in on the fun.

“Fuck you guys I’m leaving.”

"Can't wait to see him again, huh? I get it, I get it," Toast teased him.

“Have fuuun!” Rae finger-waved him out the door.

And so here he was, shivering because he left his coat back at the coffee shop, waiting to pay admission and, at least to himself, he could admit that Toast was right. He couldn’t wait to see Sy again. Okay, fine, normally he couldn’t wait to see Sy again because Sy was amazing, but now there was a whole other level to it. The anticipation hummed through him like an electric current. His mind bounced in all directions, flipping through images of Sykkuno in his soft hoodies and relaxed-fit jeans, scuffed converse sneakers, that adorable green-striped scarf he’d started wearing when the weather got colder. No other accessories to speak of just for added softness. Then there was Sy, in that same scarf, but with multiple (fake?!) piercings down his ears, eyeliner forming the hint of a cateye on a razor-sharp edge at the corner of his dark eyes, mesh sleeves, ripped jeans that hugged his thighs, that chain always hanging tantalizingly off his hip. How? How could two disparate versions of ‘perfect’ exist in the same person? It didn’t seem real. Had he hallucinated Sy ordering that coffee? Was that what happened? That had to have been it.

Finally Corpse was able to enter the venue. He bypassed the lobby area and went straight for the floor, working his way through the already growing crowd to his usual place close to where he could see Sy’s bass set at the ready on stage. Sy always stood at the left end of the stage, on the vocalist’s right-hand side. Corpse took in the familiar dusty blue bass guitar with it’s simple green-black strap and felt the anticipation build. He normally hated crowds but this, this was worth it. He hovered at a spot with around five people between him and the stage. He _could_ try moving closer. Would Sy…

Would…

Would he… Would he see him…?

Would _Sykkuno_ recognize him?

Almost subconsciously his feet moved him forward. Four people were between him and the stage, three people, two people… but he stopped before going all the way to the front. That would be too much. The stage at this venue was so low to the ground, and the security bars were almost right up against it, it would… 

It would almost be roughly the same distance as across the counter at the coffee shop.

He didn’t think his heart could handle being that close. Not now. Not here...

There was definitely an added layer to his pre-concert thrill this time around. The anticipation was thick in his chest. Out of all the people here, he was possibly the only person who knew…

The lights dimmed and the crowd hummed with energy. A heavy, thrumming beat played over the loudspeakers, amplifying the anticipation as the band came on stage. First the drummer, followed by Sy and the guitarist. Corpse only had eyes for Sy, though, watching as he strode across the strongly backlit stage to pick up his instrument and sling the strap over his shoulder. He played it high most songs, hugging the body to his torso, shoulders back, head held high. He had, of course, lost the scarf he’d been wearing at the coffee shop, leaving his neck exposed.

As was usual for performances, he all but ignored the audience in the beginning, adjusting the settings on his effector board and playing a few notes before throwing a glance at the guitarist and drummer. Tonight he was the one opening the show, playing a song that started off with a strong and fast bass line that melded with the hard beat over the speakers. He banged his head once, twice, and on the third the stage lights came fully on in a blinding flash as the guitar and drum joined in. The vocalist made his entrance and the concert kicked straight into high gear.

Sy was on fire, lips slightly parted and eyes downcast in concentration. Every little motion he made, from the little head shake to the beat of one of the melodies to the brief moment he bit his lip during a more complex combination of notes, to the flashy song where he threw his head back and took wide, sweeping steps to the music; all of it was like the strongest, sweetest alcohol imaginable, making Corpse feel drunk on it and leaving him craving more.

The next song started and he held his breath. He knew this song. There was a part leading into the chorus where Sy always came closer to the crowd and tapped the frets, playing out a complicated melody with those long, lithe fingers on both hands that made Corpse ache with want. Sure enough the song built up to it, and Sy stepped forward with a sultry roll of his shoulders to then rear back and raise the angle of the base. He placed one foot against the security bar and shifted his weight forward as he played, his head angling up as he graced the people watching with one of his rare glances. Sy scanned the crowd and his eyes passed over Corpse once, then snapped back. For the briefest of split seconds his eyes widened, pupils dilated, and then holy _fuck_ was that the wisp of a smile on his lips? It even lingered as he let the music reclaim hold of him, stepping off the security bar and banging and shaking his head on the bridge of the song.

Most of the audience’s attention shifted to the guitar solo but Corpse was entranced, eyes locked on Sy’s face as he turned to focus on the drummer, throwing pressure on him to keep up the rhythm with his furious-paced slap bass. The tempo built, higher and higher, spiraling up and up, the vocalist spitting lyrics rapid-fire until the song broke, the sound dropped, and picked up with another slamming bass riff to lead them into the last part of the song.

Holy… fuck.

Awesome arrangement aside...

That… 

That had been a smile, right?

It hadn’t... 

It hadn’t just been his imagination… right?

That had been a smile… directed at Corpse… right?

Holy shit.

Holy fuck.

He was going to die.

He could die happy.

Next time Sykkuno came in to get coffee he would give it to him _for free_. He would buy him all the vanilla and cinnamon almond milk lattes in the world if he could see that smile again.

God.

He was so aroused it wasn’t even funny.

By the time the band came back on stage for the encore, Sy’s hair was sticking to his forehead and the lines of his neck were shining with sweat. He was tightlipped and nonchalant while the vocalist addressed the audience and thanked them for coming, rolling his eyes at the drummer when the vocalist and guitarist started egging each other on about something or other, playing a little riff and giving a sarcastic little head shake when mentioned by name. At first even his mannerisms seemed completely different from pastel-clad coffee drinker Sykkuno, but the more Corpse kept his eyes on him, the more he could see it. Now that he knew, he could see it. Something about the way he shifted his weight while waiting to move on from the talk portion, in the way he tilted his head just so and mostly looked down, in the way his hand reflexively darted upwards to cover his mouth at the slightest hint that he might show emotion...

Sy was Sykkuno. He hadn’t imagined it.

But it was still so hard to believe.

How could someone like that even be _real_?

How the _fuck_?

When the concert ended, one thing was for sure.

He needed a freaking drink.

After the concert, Sykkuno was in a panic. He couldn’t believe the barista had been there. Was there any chance he could wash his embarrassment off along with the eyeliner? Not only had he been there but he’d been on Sykkuno’s side of the stage and so. close. Sykkuno could have reached out and touched him, he was so close. (Okay, maybe that was exaggerating. A little. Maybe not. Was it? _Anyway_...!)

He’d been there, and he’d definitely been watching Sykkuno. He knew because they’d locked eyes for the briefest of moments and…

and…

Sykkuno looked up at the bathroom mirror, saw how pink his cheeks were, and went back to furiously scrubbing at his face.

Stupid waterproof eyeliner.

The barista…

At least he looked like he’d been having a good time.

He hoped he’d had a good time.

Not that he would ever, ever, not even in a million years have the courage to ask him next time he went for coffee.

Next time he…

Oh jesus. Could his nerves handle a next time?

Many drinks, two drunken phone calls with Rae, one drunken string of text messages with Toast, a couple days, and several hours later, Corpse was standing behind the counter at work watching it start to snow outside. Like he wasn’t living under a cloud of doom already. Why couldn’t he live somewhere warmer?

“Rae, can you make me something? Anything?”

“Are you still hung over?”

“I might be.”

She shook her head at him and began pulling an espresso. While she waited on it, Toast came back from clearing a table, caught her attention with a chin jab towards the outside, and left her to handle the rest. Rae’s lips spread into an evil grin. Corpse did say to make him ‘anything’, after all...

Oblivious to this exchange, Corpse looked up as the door opened and froze. The customer just entering wearing a green-striped scarf also froze. For one agonizingly long heartbeat, they stared at each other in mutual panic.

Sykkuno hunched his shoulders and shuffled in to approach the counter.

“H-Hi…” Corpse greeted him breathlessly, needing to swallow before continuing as usual, “what can I get you?”

“U-Um… a tall, hot, almond milk latte with a… a shot of vanilla and cinnamon plus an extra shot of espresso… um, p-please…” Sykkuno stared decidedly at the countertop as he gave his order. He’d barely finished giving his order when a sweetly fragrant cup of coffee, just the way he liked it, was placed before him.

Actually, two cups of coffee.

Sykkuno looked up in surprise.

Rae was smiling, clearly proud of herself, as she stepped back from delivering the coffees. “For here, right?”

Sykkuno looked shyly from her to the coffees, then glanced up at Corpse, who looked just as surprised as he did. Sykkuno shrank down into his scarf, hoping it hid the smile he could feel forming on his lips.

“Um. Yeah, for… for here, please.”


End file.
